Trellis structures are used in the prior art to support the growth of a wide variety of plants. The positioning and long-term stability of deployed trellis netting is therefore a significant factor in such deployments. Protecting plants from damage by animals is an additional concern of many gardeners and agricultural ventures.
It is also of interest to many gardeners and agricultural workers to position trellis netting relative to the path of the sun, and to vary the positioning of the trellis netting over time. Yet the prior art fails to provide for portable, ground anchor systems that enable the positioning of trellis netting in a given location and allow adjustment of the trellis netting position after an initial deployment of the ground anchored system.
In additional widely felt concern, free roaming herbivores routinely damage plants and agricultural properties in their quest to reach edible plants. In particular, wild deer annually wreak hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to landscaping and gardens by eating and trampling plants.
Deer also consume significant amounts of agricultural products. It is not unusual for an adult male deer to eat over five pounds of food per day. This rate of consumption can result in serious economic degradation of the yield of an agricultural property. In addition, deer can severely and permanently damage prairies and wooded area and even cause an extinction of certain plant species within their grazing range.
While the market for deer barriers and barrier material measures in the billions of dollars annually, the willingness and ability of many consumers to erect deer fences is closely related to the purchase price, ease of installation and durability of deer barrier products and components. The prior art fails to offer solutions that protect plants from damage and areas from intrusion by deer while optimally reducing costs of materials acquisition and increasing ease of barrier installation.
In another area of need, it is sometimes desirable to deploy sun-shading materials and protective sheets that protect plants and seedlings from sun damage and/or from exposure to inclement weather conditions. Yet the prior art fails to provide support structures that optimally enable the positioning of sun-shading materials and protective sheets above plants and seedlings over a wide range of plant growth bed or site conditions.
In yet another area of need, solar energy collection fabrics and panels are becoming increasingly available at financially attractive price points for use by consumers in a wide variety of geography and ground conditions. Yet the prior art fails to provide support structures that optimally enable the support of solar energy collection devices over exposed earth or broken ground.
There is therefore a long-felt need to provide improved methods and devices for both protecting plants from damage by animals and deploying trellis netting and other sheet materials, such as solar energy collection fabric, with ground anchored devices that enable the reorientation of the deployed trellis netting or sheet materials without needing to relocate an anchored device.